By Ben Garbarek - bio | email | Twitter
Posted by Noah Stubbs - email
MCLEAN COUNTY, KY (WFIE) - A new shelter is up and running in McLean county but the shelter says it's already out of room.
"This year we've had an influx of dogs and we weren't really prepared for that," said Robin Long, McLean County Humane Society. "I guess it has to do with the economy and the weather conditions. We've had a lot of abandonments."
The shelter took nine months to build and the McLean County Humane Society says those nine months were difficult to spay and neuter animals and that's when the county's overpopulation problems started."
"That's a long time to go without any place to take a dog," said Long. "A lot of dogs just went roaming free. Our animal control officer, she's been busy non-stop, seven days a week."
The arctic temperatures aren't helping dogs left out in the cold.
"Water will freeze up real fast," she said. "In fact we've seen that with bottle water. You know how quickly that's going to freeze up. Same way with ponds or creeks. If there's a stray dog trying to find water, he's not going to find any."
The Humane Society says Kentucky law forbids animal abandonment and penalties vary from county to county. Even though the shelter is full, the humane society says it can make arrangements to house a dog somewhere else if you can't take care of it yourself.
"We're trying to help people be better, more responsible pet owners, get their pets spayed or neutered," said Long. "If they have a medical problem or if they can't keep a dog, we'll help them out any way we can."
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